As millions mobilized in the streets, the Pope sent a message to Catholic military chaplains endorsing the antiwar movement in rather explicit terms: this showed, he said, that a “large part of humanity” has rejected war, except in self-defense against an aggressor, and, he added, the peace movement gave him a great deal of “comfort and hope.”

In his 2002 Christmas message, John Paul had called on the governments of the world to make an urgent effort “in the Middle East, to extinguish the ominous smoldering of a conflict which, with the joint efforts of all, can be avoided.” This year, with resistance to the American occupation growing, and domestic antiwar sentiment persisting, the War Party was nervously anticipating his annual “Urbi et Orbi” (the City and the World) message, and he did not disappoint:

“Save us from the great evils which rend humanity in these first years of the third millennium. Save us from the wars and armed conflicts which lay waste whole areas of the world, from the scourge of terrorism and from the many forms of violence which assail the weak and the vulnerable. Save us from discouragement as we face the paths to peace, difficult paths indeed, yet possible and therefore necessary; paths which are always and everywhere urgent, especially in the Land where You were born, the Prince of Peace.”

God save us from George W. Bush. Save us from his neocon advisors, who would rather plunge us into what they call World War IV than ask Ariel Sharon to give an inch of ground. Save us from a Vice President who sends out a creepy Christmas card citing Benjamin Franklin’s remark to the Constitutional Convention:

“And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?’

The Church stands foursquare against the hubris of earthly kings who delude themselves into thinking they can act like gods. It is the main organized obstacle to any nation with pretensions of universal hegemony, and the papacy of John Paul II has exemplified the role of the Church as the protector of humanity against the depredations of the State. What is astonishing to see is the sheer superhuman strength of this man, whose suffering is a modern-day reenactment of the Stations of the Cross.

“On one side, Iraq maintains weapons of mass destruction, and on the other, international terrorists are seeking to procure them.

“‘All that is lacking between these two incendiary elements is a spark of contact,’ Novak said.”

“‘Given Saddam’s proven record in the use of such weapons, and given his recognized contempt for international law, only an imprudent or even foolhardy statesman could trust that these two forces will stay apart forever. At any time they could combine, in secret, to murder tens of thousands of innocent and unsuspecting citizens,’ he said.”

Only U.S. government officials, he argued, have the inside knowledge about Saddam’s possession of such weapons, and we must trust in them – and not in the Pope – to make these decisions. That these officials were lying, and their case for war a web a deceit, does not have Novak begging the Holy Father’s forgiveness. Novak and his cohorts, far from repentant, are walking arguments in favor of the Pope’s power to excommunicate heretics.

“What are we to say of the threat of a war that could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than 12 years of embargo? War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations. As the Charter of the United Nations Organization and international law itself remind us, war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions, without ignoring the consequences for the civilian population both during and after the military operations.”

Even the most hardcore militant atheists in the antiwar movement must recognize and salute the moral authority of the Church, whose foreign minister, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, expressed the view of those of us in the U.S. who resist the rise of an American empire:

“A single member of the international community cannot decide: ‘I’m doing this and you others can either help me or stay home.’ If that were the case, the entire system of international rules would collapse. We’d risk the jungle.”

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Peace and Justice Commission – known as the Donald Rumsfeld of the Vatican because of his tough-as-nails approach to promulgating the Pope’s mission of peace – put it succinctly and well:

“We cannot think that there is a universal policeman who takes it upon himself to punish those who act badly…. The United States, being part of the international assembly, has to adapt to the exigencies of others.”

There is no universal policeman and ruler of mortal mien worthy of the task, and any scheme to set one up is necessarily Satanic.

Pope John Paul II, a giant among men, who has single-handedly taken on the power of the War Party – and who towers so far above his critics that the distance can only be measured in light years – is our Man of the Year.

“The LNC supports our Convention Committee’s invitation to Neal Boortz to speak at our national convention in Atlanta in May 2004. We do not condition participation at our convention on membership in the LP or on 100% compliance with the national party platform. We welcome the continued efforts of Mr. Boortz and many others to further the freedom movement in whatever way they choose.”

What hypocrites! If Boortz opposed the legalization of, say, marijuana, cloning, or any of the other favored left-libertarian hobby-horses, we all know he wouldn’t be able to get within a country mile of the speakers’ platform in Atlanta. Leave it to the politically clueless “leadership” of the LP to consign the party’s opposition to the war – the one platform plank with potentially broad appeal this election year – to the junk heap. No wonder they’ve begun to limit their pathetic electoral efforts to getting elected to local county water board and community college and sewer districts. The LP doesn’t care about the bad public relations this decision is already generating – they stupidly believe that any publicity is good publicity. What a way to commit suicide.

Oh well, don’t get mad – get even! There’s just one way to register your disapproval of the LP NatCom’s decision: if you’re planning to contribute to the Libertarian Party, to renew your membership, or vote for their generally dumb-ass candidates, don’t do it.

And let them know why.

Send email to the convention coordinator, Nancy Neale (who just happens to be the wife of the current National Chairman), at torchess@austin.rr.com.

Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com, and a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative, and writes a monthly column for Chronicles. He is the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement [Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993; Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000], and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard [Prometheus Books, 2000].